Now, more than ever, business owners face unprecedented challenges. The pandemic and its aftermath are going to continue to cause major disruptions for businesses across the country while changing consumer buying behavior. Most local businesses which have traditionally been dependent on foot traffic, word-of-mouth and social media marketing to promote their small business. Because of the shelter-in-place orders, many of these businesses have experienced a major drop in foot traffic and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Businesses today have or are going through three stages of response to these unprecedented market conditions. Those stages include stabilizing your company, reopening your workplace and finally, growing your business as they prepare for the “New Normal.”
Since COVID-19, we have seen companies splinter into two distinct groups; the haves and have nots.
Either your business is overwhelmed with orders or you’re struggling to keep the lights on. Initially non-essentially deemed businesses were force to close their doors to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect their employees and customers.
Of those businesses severely hit the hardest were retailers and restaurants.
With the prolonged quarantine, many of these businesses were forced to either shudder their doors permanently or were forced to pivot overnight to a digital-eCommerce or delivery reality.
According to Yelp, 55% of businesses have shut down for good due to COVID-19. As of July 10, 132,580 businesses listed on their platform remain closed. Of all business closures 72,842 small businesses will never reopen again.. “When you look at those two top categories [retail and restaurants], we’re potentially never going to see some of these businesses again,” said Justin Norman, Vice President of Data Science at Yelp.
Restaurants were forced to offer take-out or home delivery services to survive. Companies that were the fastest and most flexible in adapting to the new reality, will have a huge advantage in capturing marketshare. Today’s business owners should be looking to build a digital marketing strategy that takes advantage of some of the top advertising trends in 2021, in order to prepare for when consumers start spending to pre-COVID levels.
It’s important that businesses, regardless of their size or industry, remind their customers that they are open for business and share with them how they are putting safety measures in place to ensure how their customer and employees are following local, state and federal health guidelines.
Small businesses owners should reconsider their previous marketing efforts of relying on social media and word-of-mouth. Now more than ever, business owners should make sure their online search rankings (SERPs) are high. and leverage a multi-channel marketing approach to promote brand awareness and daily promotional offerings by using a combination of paid search, SEO and highly targeted programmatic advertising. Amplify has formulated an easy-use turnkey solution to address your needs.
Amplify believes in a more human approach to advertising. Let us demonstrate how you can reduce wasted ad spend and time to conversion by implementing an omni-channel strategy that amplifies your SEO, Paid Search, Content and Programmatic strategies. If you would like to learn more about shifting your marketing strategies to grow your marketshare and bottom line, let’s have a conversation.
